SwimSwam Pulse is a recurring feature tracking and analyzing the results of our periodic A3 Performance Polls. You can cast your vote in our newest poll on the SwimSwam homepage, about halfway down the page on the right side, or you can find the poll embedded at the bottom of this post.
Our most recent poll asked SwimSwam readers to weigh in on their emotional response to world record-holder Cesar Cielo missing the Brazilian Olympic roster:
RESULTS
What’s your emotion after Cesar Cielo missed the Brazilian Olympic Team?
- Bemusement – 26.6%
- Disappointment – 25.5%
- Sadness – 23.1%
- Heartbreak – 16.3%
- Relief – 8.5%
Voters were very split between three of the options – bemusement, disappointment and sadness. Each earned roughly a quarter of the votes, and were all within about 40 total votes of each other.
Cielo is an interesting figure within the sport. A double world record-holder and three-time Olympic medalist, Cielo is venerated as a sprint legend and still holds the title of “fastest man in world history.”
His very open emotional reactions to those wins – which often included tears of joy – struck a chord with a wide range of swimming fans, showing exactly how much Olympic success means to athletes who invest so much into their sport.
On the other hand, there are some who hold Cielo’s world records in lower esteem given that they occurred during the era of the full-body super-suits, when world records across the board dropped to extreme lows – some of those super-suited records haven’t even been approached since the suit ban.
Then, too, some swimming fans still distrust Cielo after a 2011 failed anti-doping test. Cielo tested positive for furosemide, a weight-loss diuretic that can also be used as a masking agent. Cielo maintained that the test was a result of cross-contamination of a caffeine supplement he took, and his defense was convincing enough that the Court of Arbitration for Sport agreed, allowing him to swim (and win) at the 2011 World Championships.
Those conflicting viewpoints of Cielo likely explain the split between “bemusement” and “disappointment/sadness” that Cielo wouldn’t be representing his country at Brazil’s home Olympic Games this summer.
Below, vote in our new A3 Performance Poll, which asks whether South Korea’s Park Tae-hwan should be allowed to compete at this summer’s Olympic Games:
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ABOUT A3 PERFORMANCE
A3 Performance was founded in 2004 and is based in Wisconsin. A3 Performance was founded on the ideals that great products could be made and offered at great prices. Innovation and purpose is the focus of all product development. The swimmer is the focus of everything we do.
The A3 Performance Poll is courtesy of A3 Performance, a SwimSwam partner